Whenever a petition shall be presented to the board of county commissioners of any county of this state praying for a public highway, and the names of all the owners of all the land through which said road is to be laid out, shall be signed by the owners thereof to said petition, giving the right-of-way through the land, and accompanied by a plat of the road, it shall be the duty of the board of county commissioners, if in their opinion, the public good requires it, to declare the same a public highway, and thereupon a plat shall be filed and recorded and the said road shall become a public highway from and after that date.
History: Laws 1905, ch. 124, § 19; Code 1915, § 2671; C.S. 1929, § 64-720; 1941 Comp., § 58-419; 1953 Comp., § 55-4-19.
Subdivision Act requires formal county acceptance to obligate the county for road maintenance and such acceptance cannot be satisfied through the common law doctrines of prescriptive acquisition or implied dedication. McGarry v. Scott, 2003-NMSC-016, 134 N.M. 32, 72 P.3d 608.
Structure New Mexico Statutes
Article 5 - Vacation, Alteration and Establishment of County Roads and Bridges
Section 67-5-1 - [County bridges, township and section lines are parts of public highways; width.]
Section 67-5-2 - [Width of public highways.]
Section 67-5-4 - [Discontinuance; procedure; viewers; county-line roads.]
Section 67-5-5 - [Alteration or establishment; petition; contents.]
Section 67-5-6 - Establish rights-of-way.
Section 67-5-7 - [Petitioners' deposit or bond covering viewing expense.]
Section 67-5-8 - [Proposed county-line roads; petitions; viewers; opening and maintaining.]
Section 67-5-10 - [Warrants to viewers; contents.]
Section 67-5-11 - [Service of warrants; return; refusal of viewer to serve; forfeiture.]
Section 67-5-12 - Laying out road; assessment for damages; survey.
Section 67-5-13 - [Replacing road viewers.]
Section 67-5-14 - [Report of viewers; contents; compensation.]
Section 67-5-15 - [Consideration of viewer's report by county commissioners; additional data.]
Section 67-5-16 - [Approval of road opening; recording viewers' report.]
Section 67-5-17 - [Notice of road opening; prerequisites; posting.]
Section 67-5-18 - [Damages exceeding benefits; persons under disability.]
Section 67-5-19 - [Determination of damages on appeal to district court.]
Section 67-5-20 - [Establishment on petition of all owners.]
Section 67-5-21 - [Private roads; procedure for establishment.]